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The Indiana Pacers—already facing tough odds against winning Game 7 on the road—couldn’t overcome the early loss of injured star guard Tyrese Haliburton and fell to the host Oklahoma City Thunder 103-91 Sunday night in the deciding contest of the NBA Finals.
Oklahoma City won its first NBA championship by outscoring the Pacers by 13 points in the second half. It’s actually the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979 and the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
Haliburton—who was playing with a strained right calf—tumbled to the court in a heap with 4:55 left in the first quarter, immediately began punching the floor in frustration and needed to be helped to the locker room. John Haliburton, Tyrese’s father, told ABC it was an Achilles tendon injury. Haliburton finished with 9 points on three 3-pointers in four attempts.
The Pacers hung tough in the first half despite Haliburton’s exit and managed a 48-47 halftime lead. But Oklahoma got hot in the third quarter, outscoring Indiana 34-20 in the period and building a 81-68 lead.
Guard T.J. McConnell tried to keep the Pacers in the game, scoring 12 of his 16 in the third quarter.
The Thunder built the lead to 22 in the fourth quarter before the Pacers chipped away to pull within 10 in final minutes and make it interesting.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists. He was named MVP of the NBA Finals.
Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder,
Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third-most in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers — who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn’t have enough in the end.
Home teams are now 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last year’s title.
And now, the Thunder get their turn. The youngest team to win a title in nearly a half-century has reached the NBA mountaintop.
The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver 12 seasons leading the league. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.
Oklahoma City 103, Indiana 91
Nesmith 1-5 0-0 3, Siakam 5-13 4-7 16, Turner 2-4 1-4 6, Haliburton 3-5 0-0 9, Nembhard 4-10 5-6 15, Toppin 0-4 0-0 0, Bradley 0-0 2-2 2, Bryant 0-1 0-0 0, Mathurin 6-14 10-10 24, Furphy 0-0 0-0 0, McConnell 8-13 0-0 16, Sheppard 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-70 22-29 91.
OKLAHOMA CITY (103)
Holmgren 6-8 5-8 18, Jal.Williams 7-20 4-6 20, Hartenstein 3-4 1-3 7, Dort 3-10 1-2 9, Gilgeous-Alexander 8-27 11-12 29, Dieng 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, K.Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Caruso 4-10 0-0 10, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 4-6 0-0 10, Wiggins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-87 22-31 103.
| Indiana | 22 | 26 | 20 | 23 | — | 91 |
| Oklahoma City | 25 | 22 | 34 | 22 | — | 103 |
3-Point Goals_Indiana 11-28 (Haliburton 3-4, Nembhard 2-3, Mathurin 2-5, Siakam 2-5, Nesmith 1-3, Turner 1-3, Bryant 0-1, Sheppard 0-1, Toppin 0-3), Oklahoma City 11-40 (Wallace 2-3, Caruso 2-5, Jal.Williams 2-7, Dort 2-9, Gilgeous-Alexander 2-12, Holmgren 1-2, K.Williams 0-1, Wiggins 0-1). Fouled Out_Indiana 1 (Nesmith), Oklahoma City None. Rebounds_Indiana 45 (Mathurin 13), Oklahoma City 40 (Hartenstein 9). Assists_Indiana 17 (Nembhard 6), Oklahoma City 20 (Gilgeous-Alexander 12). Total Fouls_Indiana 24, Oklahoma City 23. A_18,203 (18,203)
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Boys gave it a good run. probably still deserve a parade
+1, totally agree. They had a great run and should be celebrated for doing as well as they did.
Great season, players represented themselves, Indy, and Indiana very well. Class group of young men. Congrats on a great run!!